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Wednesday, 26 April 2017

Today we held our much anticipated Gallery Walk for students to showcase their Personal Passion Projects. Students have been working on the projects for homework for all of Term 1. There was a huge range of projects - cooking, mosaics, billy carts, comparing cameras, dress making, designing and programming robots, model making and so many more! A big thank you must go to all the parents who assisted and equipped their children to participate. Thanks also for coming and being an authentic audience for the students.

It's all about the learning. Whether the final project was all students hoped it would be or not, as long as they learned something they have been successful. Many students were able to articulate what they learned - family history, the value of pins (in dress-making), more research was needed before beginning, how to shape the cardboard to make the model, which wood is best for carving. The list of learning is as diverse as the learners!

One student courageously included her "fails" - First Attempts In Learning" (See photos below). She understands that failure is part of learning, not a reason for giving up. She also acknowledged she learned this lesson from another student who included it in a speech last year. We can all learn from each other.

Today we are proud of every student who pursued their passion and learned something new. Thanks for sharing your passions with us!

Saturday, 1 April 2017

On Friday afternoon a few weeks ago we held our first Leadership Training session for Year 6 leaders. It was delightful to see Year 9 students, who were the first to receive leadership training themselves when they were in Year 6, giving up their time to run training activities for the current Year 6.

The students were put into groups and rotated around activities designed to foster teamwork, cooperation and communication - skills important to leadership.

1. One group chose a student to be blindfolded. They then took turns to direct them through a maze marked out on the floor with masking tape.

2. Another activity required students to reach across the groups and hold two other hands then try and untangle themselves! This one requires a lot of teamwork and communication and if you do it !correctly, you end up with everyone standing in a circle with joined hands, though some can be facing the wrong way.

3. Lastly students lay on the floor in circle with their hands crossed over with the people next to them. They then had to tap the hands in order around the circle - much harder than it sounds! There were also signals to reverse the direction and other challenges requiring concentration, attention to detail, teamwork and cooperation.

The students had fun while thinking about and practising skills needed to be successful leaders. Thanks Mrs Gaskell and Year 9 students!